“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men” - Abraham Lincoln
Not just the Federal Drug Administration of the United States (USFDA), global concerns are being expressed regularly about the laxity of drug regulatory and clinical trial standards in India, exposing patients to health safety related risks.
The problem is significantly more with the Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) Drugs for various reasons. This is worrisome because; the domestic market for FDCs is very large and growing much faster, in sharp contrast to the western world. For example, in 2011-12 FDCs accounted for more than half of all NSAID and oral anti-diabetic drug sales, and one-third and one-fifth of anti-psychotic and anti-depressant/benzodiazepine sales, respectively, according to a recent study. Both the domestic and multi-national pharma players market FDCs in India
Alarmingly, a plethora of FDCs unapproved by the drug regulators of India on their rationality, efficacy and safety, have flooded the domestic pharma market, in large quantities.
All such drugs are being actively promoted by the respective pharma players, widely prescribed by the doctors, openly sold by the chemists and freely consumed by the patients without any apprehension or having no inkling of the magnitude of the possible health hazards that such drugs might cause, both in short and long term.
Public health safety hazard arising out of this scenario does not seem to have ever been estimated by the Indian drug regulators, despite indictments even by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, nor is there any properly functional system in place to capture such data for meaningful analysis.
As the saying goes ‘better late than never’, a credible report on this menace has just been published on May 12, 2015 by independent experts, which I shall discuss in this article.
Is the situation out of control?
On the ground, the situation seems to be out of control of even the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
This is vindicated by a March 2013, written reply of the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, where the Government reportedly informed the Lok Sabha (the lower House of the Parliament) that in twenty three cases of new FDC, licenses have been granted by the State Licensing Authorities (SLAs) without the mandatory approval of the DCGI and action will be taken in all these cases.
However, no one seems to know, as yet, what action the Government has taken against those errant officials.
The latest investigative report on the criticality of the situation:
The May 12, 2015 issue of “PLOS Medicine” – a Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal, published the results of an investigation on CDSCO approval for and availability of oral FDC drugs in India from four therapeutic areas – analgesia (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diabetes (metformin), depression/anxiety (anti-depressants/benzodiazepines), and psychosis (anti-psychotics).
This study was done based on the Department Related Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare’s 2012 Report, stating that manufacturing licenses for large numbers of FDCs had been issued by state authorities without prior approval of the CDSCO in violation of rules, and considered that some ambiguity until 1 May 2002 about states’ powers might have contributed to this worrying consequences.
I shall also discuss the above Parliamentary Committee report in this article.
Booming sales of unapproved drugs:
‘PLOS Medicine’ report highlighted the following:
A. They obtained information on FDC formulations approved between1961 and 2013 in each therapeutic area from the CDSCO.
B. FDC sales details were obtained for the period 2007 to 2012 from PharmaTrac database of drug sales in India. Over the five years included in the time-trend analysis, FDCs accounted for an increasing proportion of total sales volumes. By 2011–2012, FDCs accounted for more than half of all NSAID and oral anti-diabetic drug sales, and one-third and one-fifth of anti-psychotic and anti-depressant/benzodiazepine sales, respectively.
C. Of the 175 FDC formulations marketed in India in the therapeutic areas studied, only 60 (34 percent) were approved.
Out of these, percentages of approved formulations are as follows:
- 80 percent of 25 marketed metformin FDC formulations
- 27 percent of 124 NSAID FDC formulations
- 19 percent of 16 anti-depressant/benzodiazepine FDC formulations
- 30 percent of 10 anti-psychotic FDC formulations
D. In 2011–2012, percentages of FDC sales volumes arising from unapproved formulations was:
- 43 percent for anti-psychotics
- 69 percent for anti-depressants/benzodiazepines
- 28 percent for NSAIDs
- 0.4 percent for metformin
E. Formulations including drugs of which use is banned or restricted internationally accounted for 13.6 percent and 53 percent of NSAID and anti-psychotic FDC sales, respectively.
F. While “ambiguity” in the rules prior to 2002 was advanced as a reason for some FDCs having been marketed without a record of central approval, the researchers identified no ambiguity, and in fact, following an amendment to the rules in May 2002 that extended the requirements on approval applicants, new FDCs continued to be marketed without a record of central approval.
The suggestions:
The ‘PLOS Medicine’ report concluded with the following suggestions:
Unapproved formulations should be banned immediately, prioritizing those withdrawn or banned internationally, and undertaking a review of benefits and risks for patients.
To ensure long-term safety and effectiveness of new medicines marketed in India, as well as transparency of the approval process, amendments in India’s regulatory processes and drug laws are called for. A review should be undertaken of the safety and effectiveness of FDCs currently available in India.
Indian lawmakers too pointed out this embarrassing regulatory laxity:
This saga of drug regulatory laxity in general and for the FDCs in particular, is continuing since quite a while. This is despite the fact that the Department Related Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare presented its 59th Report of 118 pages in total on the functioning of the Indian Drug Regulator – the Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) in both the houses of the Parliament on May 08, 2012.
The report begins with a profound observation:
Medicines apart from their critical role in alleviating human suffering and saving lives have very sensitive and typical dimensions for a variety of reasons. Prescription drugs are the only commodities for which the consumers have no role to play. Nor are they able to make any informed choices, except to buy and consume whatever is prescribed or dispensed to them, because of the following reasons:
- Drug regulators decide which medicines can be marketed
- Pharma companies either produce or import drugs that they can profitably sell
- Doctors decide which drugs and brands to prescribe
- Consumers are at the mercy of external entities to protect their interests
The ‘Mission Statement’ of CDSCO is ‘Industry Oriented’ and not ‘Patient Focused:
Very interestingly, the lawmakers’ report highlights, citing the following examples, how out of line the ‘Mission Statement’ of CDSCO is, as compared to the same of other countries, by being blatantly industry oriented instead of safeguarding Public Health and Safety interests :
|
Drug Regulator |
The ‘Mission Statement’ |
|
| 1. |
CDSCO, India |
Meeting the aspirations…. demands and requirements of the pharmaceutical industry. |
| 2. |
USFDA, USA |
Protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs. |
| 3. |
MHRA, UK |
To enhance and safeguard the health of the public by ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe. |
| 4. |
TGA, Australia |
Safeguarding public health & safety in Australia by regulating Medicines… |
Consequently, the Parliamentary Committee took a strong exception for such utter disregard and continued neglect of patients’ interest by the Drug Regulator of India. It recommended immediate amendment of the ‘Mission Statement’ of CDSCO incorporating in very clear terms that the existence of the organization is solely for the purpose of protecting the best interest of patients and their safety. It is needless to say, thereafter it would call for its stringent conformance with high precision.
A scathing remark against CDSCO:
The parliamentary Committee report made the following scathing remarks on CDSCO in its point 2.2:
“The Committee is of the firm opinion that most of the ills besetting the system of drugs regulation in India are mainly due to the skewed priorities and perceptions of CDSCO. For decades together it has been according primacy to the propagation and facilitation of the drugs industry, due to which, unfortunately, the interest of the biggest stakeholder i.e. the consumer has never been ensured.”
Allegation of possible collusion:
The report also deliberates not only on the utter systemic failure of CDSCO along with the DCGI’s office to enforce the drug regulations effectively, but also towards a possible collusion between CDSCO and the pharmaceutical industry to implement a self-serving agenda by hoodwinking the system. This is a very serious allegation, which needs to be thoroughly probed and the findings of which should be made public for everybody’s satisfaction.
The committee, therefore, felt that effective and transparent drug regulation, free from all commercial influences and callous enforcement of rules and laws, are absolutely essential to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of drugs keeping just one objective in mind, i.e., welfare of patients.
Do we need “Safe in India” campaign for drugs?
Do we need a well-hyped “Safe in India” campaign for drugs? Looking around, at least conceptually, the answer is probably ‘yes’…Seriously…I am not joking!
The reason being, despite scathing remarks of the Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2012, apparently no systematic enquiry has been undertaken by the CDSCO to ascertain the reason for continuation and the veracity of this menace, just yet.
A very significant number of unapproved medications still remain undetected by the drug regulators and continue to be abundantly available, frequently prescribed, openly sold and freely consumed by the patients without even an iota of doubt regarding possible health safety hazards that these prescription drugs might cause.
May 2015 ‘PLOS Medicine’ Report helps unraveling the underbelly of the drug regulatory scenario in India, along with its systemic decay, which fails to halt the possible serious health safety hazards that Indian patients are exposed to.
India’s image as an emerging ‘pharmacy of the world’ for cheaper generic drugs has already been dented with a number of ‘import bans’ from the US and UK for flouting the specified drug manufacturing quality standards.
The saga of ‘import bans’ for Indian drugs, together with this critical health safety related menace, probably necessitates an effective launch of a “Safe in India” campaign for medicines, in general, by the Government.
This initiative gains additional importance, as painstakingly developed reputation of the Indian drug exporters, including the largest domestic players, has now been dented. It needs to be revamped, sooner.
I addressed a related issue in my blog post of February 3, 2014, titled “FDA ‘Import Bans: Valuing Drug Supply Chain Security For Patients’ Safety.”
Conclusion:
Effective resolution of this critical issue demands high priority at the highest level of the decision making process of the Government, with commensurate sense of urgency.
Keeping that in mind, would it be a bad idea, if just like “Make in India” campaign of the Prime Minister; “Safe in India” campaign for medicines is also undertaken with equal gusto and monitored by the top echelon of the country’s rejuvenated governance machinery?
This initiative would probably help sending the very contextual ‘shape up or ship out’ signal to the drug regulators, both at the Center and also in the States to erase the prevailing menace for good.
In that process, it would eventually allay the public health safety concern with the ‘Made in India’ drugs, coming out of ‘Make in India’ campaign, not just in the country, but also beyond its shores.
The speed of action in this situation is the essence. Otherwise, the following golden words of wisdom as enunciated by Abraham Lincoln would keep haunting us, till the remedial measures taken by the Government become palpable on the ground:
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men”
By: Tapan J. Ray
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.